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5 Reasons Apple Looks Like the Next Sony
Forbes ^ | 03/26/2014 | Kyle Smith

Posted on 03/26/2014 6:44:52 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Apple may be the most valuable company on the planet, but two and a half years into the Tim Cook era, it already looks like a different outfit. Though Cook has brought revenue up 58 percent, and profits up 40 percent, the Steve Jobs-led fervor to innovate seems to be subsiding. Apple is in an industry where it has to keep coming up with daring new breakthroughs, and the famously bland Cook doesn’t seem like the man to deliver them. Revenues in the last fiscal year were up only 9.6 percent, the slowest increase in a decade, and earnings fell for the first time since 2001.

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Yukari Iwatani Kane‘s book Haunted Empire: Apple After Steve Jobs has been denounced as “nonsense” by Cook, but Cook has good reason to bristle at the book, which paints him as a mere caretaker, not a creative genius. Sony was once the coolest kid on the block too. Here are some early warning signals that stasis and even decline beckon for Apple.

1. Regression to the mean. Apple came up with the iPod in 2001, the iPhone in 2007 and the iPad in 2010, in each case not only creating a blockbuster new product but a whole new category. Like a football quarterback who throws for 400 yards a game for a month, Apple is overdue for a slump. “Apple was essentially in violation of business physics for an extremely long time,” says Harvard management professor Gautam Mukunda in the book. Today, portable music players are an aging product category and competitors are stealing market share from the phone and tablets. Will Apple be able to pull another rabbit out of its hat?

2. Tim Cook doesn’t think different.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: apple; applestock; sony; timcook
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To: Haiku Guy
Samsung is looking better and better.

When my note 2 gives me the 15% notification, I pull off the back and put in a charged battery. I never use any of the annoying "S" apps but have a 32 gig additional SD card that makes up for the room they take. I'd be realistic about Samsung and Android, but at least you get some flexibility.

Hard to beat that Iphone camera.

41 posted on 03/26/2014 8:59:20 AM PDT by Stentor (Maybe the Goldman Sachs thing is just a coincidence. /S)
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To: SeekAndFind

Must be a wonderful guy to work for....

” His management style, says Kane, is to delegate responsibility but then bring the hammer down on those who fail him.


42 posted on 03/26/2014 9:02:48 AM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: ProtectOurFreedom

There is an infinite number of new inventions. They just need to be imagined.


43 posted on 03/26/2014 9:17:04 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (Free goodies for all -- Freedom for none.)
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To: InterceptPoint

Microsoft Surface is a tablet and laptop but no phone as far as I know. It has not set the world on fire though.


44 posted on 03/26/2014 9:26:53 AM PDT by xp38
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To: Chickensoup
I just recently got the LG G2 and it is the stingiest battery user of any phone/droid/blackberry/Windowsphone I have ever used.

I have left it on overnight at less than 50% and awakened to a phone with between 40% and 45%.

I used to be lucky to finish a round of golf using a gps golf app. This phone uses 15% battery for 18 holes.

Got one for my wife and one grandson who's brother has the latest iPhone, and his brother now wants one.

45 posted on 03/26/2014 9:33:36 AM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys-Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat-But they know what's best for you.)
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To: InterceptPoint

The answer to the next steps of evolution in screen technology is not to get bigger, but to get smaller and closer to the eye.

Step one will be some sort of a Google Glass type display which will project onto your retina. It has the advantage of complete portability while appearing as a giant sized display.

Step two will be a contact lens that does the same thing.

Step three will be an implant or they will come up with a way of transmitting signals through a skullcap or other type of technology.

This will be coupled with ever increasing synchronization between the phone/computer hardware and you, starting with near perfect speech recognition and moving eventually to implanted or skin contact direct interface with the brain.

Mankind will evolve into a cybernetic organism within the next century, and will likely leave behind the “meat sack” and become completely digital and mechanical immortal beings within the next 1000 years.

To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke, if this seems preposterous, then just maybe I am close to predicting what may come. BTW, he predicted all of the above in his books.


46 posted on 03/26/2014 9:38:05 AM PDT by Go_Raiders (Freedom doesn't give you the right to take from others, no matter how innocent your program sounds.)
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To: InterceptPoint
But what does an iPad evolve to? It is not obvious? It will be mostly refinement and not innovation.

Flexibility? An ipad that looks like a piece of paper? We'll need new tech for batteries for that I expect.

47 posted on 03/26/2014 10:15:31 AM PDT by zeugma (Is it evil of me to teach my bird to say "here kitty, kitty"?)
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To: Mr. Jeeves
the lack of a readable/writable file system and SD Card support has become a deal-breaker for me.

I was recently in the market for a more capable device to replace my Nook. Lack of SD cards is the main reason I didn't even look at Apple's offerings. I understand the how and why of it, but such a product just doesn't suit my needs.

I bought a Note 8". The funny thing is, since I downloaded an SSH server app, I haven't had to remove the SD card once. I can just scp or fish:// the files to the device. However, I still like the fact that when I want a bigger card all I have to do is pop the old one out, and put a new one in, and *poof* I have more memory.

48 posted on 03/26/2014 10:26:44 AM PDT by zeugma (Is it evil of me to teach my bird to say "here kitty, kitty"?)
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To: InterceptPoint
Ak yourself: How big would this 3-way device be?

I like the Samsung Mega, but I know that would be a lot for some people. I would use it as a tablet replacement and access the telephone functionality with a bluetooth headset.

Maybe a device that has parts. You can carry just the phone, or you could snap it to the tablet, that would then use the phone's data and telephone connection. You could also add a keyboard, like the Microsoft Surface, if you want laptop functionality. Include expandable memory, a micro-SD slot and a multi-format video and music player, instead of trying to lock the user into a certain media distribution network, and you would have a winner.

49 posted on 03/26/2014 10:34:37 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (Health Care Haiku: If You Have a Right / To the Labor I Provide / I Must Be Your Slave)
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To: Erik Latranyi
Microsoft integrated the PC and tablet into their Surface line. Fantastic product.

We got one on sale last year for my daughter's schoolwork. She loves it.

50 posted on 03/26/2014 10:37:08 AM PDT by Haiku Guy (Health Care Haiku: If You Have a Right / To the Labor I Provide / I Must Be Your Slave)
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To: Stentor
Every once in a while, I'll follow Apple Maps directions just for the adventure and a laugh.

i used the maps a few times. Back to Google the second it was available. I had forgotten this mis-adventure completely. This particular decision has to be their worst post-Jobs. It NEVER would have happened in the previous era.

51 posted on 03/26/2014 10:46:21 AM PDT by ilgipper
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To: InterceptPoint

I’m off on a hike today.


What?? Are you dealing in reality when you could be glued to the “tube” What does the great outdoors offer that the travel channel does not! : )


52 posted on 03/26/2014 11:40:51 AM PDT by minnesota_bound
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To: N. Theknow

I could have replied to any number of posts but I’ll respond to yours.

Battery technology, lithium ion included has not created a rechargeable battery with a life span that extends much beyond 500 cycles with a max of about 1000 cycles.

Logically as you would expect... where a “NEW” iPhone 5 or LG or Samsung or _________ gave (gives) maximum battery life initially that power will fall off by percentage points each month of use until the battery is no longer considered useable.

So... a 2 or 3 year old iPhone (or any other battery powered device) will no longer provide 12/14/18 hours between charges (based on talk time) and will “at some point” need to be charged more often in an increasingly shortened window.

So to the guy with an iPhone 4 complaining about battery life... pay to have the battery replaced or buy a new phone.

And to you with the new LG G2... please brag about battery life a year from now at which point your post will have some intrinsic value.


53 posted on 03/26/2014 12:16:42 PM PDT by overdog2 (Lithium Ion Battery Life)
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To: overdog2
And to you with the new LG G2... please brag about battery life a year from now at which point your post will have some intrinsic value.

Pardon me for not explaining that I was comparing my new phone and its battery life to other new phones I have had when they were brand new. I am well aware of battery efficiencies waning during the lifetime of electronic items. As most anyone is who has had more than one computer, iPhone, iPad, Droid, etc.

54 posted on 03/26/2014 12:23:22 PM PDT by N. Theknow (Kennedys-Can't drive, can't ski, can't fly, can't skipper a boat-But they know what's best for you.)
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To: ilgipper
i used the maps a few times.

It's hilarious if you know where you're going.

55 posted on 03/26/2014 12:28:18 PM PDT by Stentor (Maybe the Goldman Sachs thing is just a coincidence. /S)
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To: SeekAndFind; a fool in paradise

Everybody knows the future, nobody remembers the past.


56 posted on 03/26/2014 12:31:28 PM PDT by Revolting cat! (Bad things are wrong! Ice cream is delicious! We reserve the right to serve refuse to anyone!)
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To: MrEdd

So you have a 9th generation Roku?

What you are is a FAT bastard pretending to be someone who actually DOES things.

The FIRST touchscreen phone was an HTC Touch, running Windows 6.x. I had one, and it was great, minus the stylus...

One month later the iPhone was released...

“... I tend to be on my second or third product in any given category by the time Apple finally enters the market...”

Sure you are.

Jackass.


57 posted on 03/26/2014 12:45:56 PM PDT by BBB333 (Q: Which is grammatically correct? Joe Biden IS or Joe Biden ARE an idiot?)
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To: MrEdd

I wanted you to know, sincerely, that I believe you to be a jackass.

Get help.


58 posted on 03/26/2014 12:48:03 PM PDT by BBB333 (Q: Which is grammatically correct? Joe Biden IS or Joe Biden ARE an idiot?)
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To: Go_Raiders
Mankind will evolve into a cybernetic organism within the next century, and will likely leave behind the “meat sack” and become completely digital and mechanical immortal beings within the next 1000 years.

You may be right. I'm sure you've heard of this guy who shares your views.


59 posted on 03/26/2014 4:16:26 PM PDT by InterceptPoint
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To: Haiku Guy
Right now I have three products. I have a laptop, a smartphone and tablet. The next step is to integrate these three functions into one portable product, that shares one connection, so I can meet all my needs at a reduced cost.

So you want a device with a 13" or larger screen that you can fit in your pocket? Good luck with that.

60 posted on 03/27/2014 8:14:16 AM PDT by ReignOfError
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